Recycle but not reduce :-(

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - the 3Rs. That's what our kids learn at school.  I was trying to reinforce it to my little boy and he was very excited about it. He was so eager to put things into our recycling bag. Then I said that it's good to get hand me downs too - toys, clothes and books. And that's when he frowned and said "Mummy, I don't like reuse or reduce. I only like to recycle".  Maybe we should emphasise a bit more on the reduce and reuse, especially when the UN has announced that the Earth's population is growing faster than they had expected - 6.9 billion to 9.3 billion by 2050!!